Saturday, January 10, 2009

The Air Jordan 2009.

So there was a big event in New York this week that I wasn't invited to. It was the launch of the new Jordan shoe, the Air Jordan 2009. This isn't another team shoe, this is the flagship of the Jordan line. The last one was the XX3 (23), for a fitting reason, Jordan Brand will name subsequent Jordan's under the year of release.

I haven't been moved by the new Jordans of late as I'm partial to J's I-V, however the '09's actually look like a half decent performance shoe. I spotted them on Joe Johnson over the holidays in Atlanta, but couldn't quite make out what they were. Truthfully, I'm more surprised at the fact that Jordan Brand have finally signed their first female athlete in their 10+ years of existence. Paralympian, April Holmes (above), is a track and field athlete and the world record holder in the 100, 200 and 400-meter races, I guess once they dumped Warren Sapp they figured they had an extra space on the roster.

Back to the shoes, the AJ 2009 wasn't designed by Tinker Hatfield, but by Jordan Brand's Senior footwear designer Jason Mayden. This time the shoe employs another "new, innovative technology" called Articulated Propulsion Technology, which is the carbon fiber prosthetic running technology used by paralympians, which allows for explosive forward movements. This all ties into the inspiration of the shoe... the sport of Fencing, where quick attacks, parries and defensive movements are key, much like basketball.

However all of that means nothing for the majority of people who will be purchasing the shoe for casual wear, all will be happy with the AJ 2009's clean aesthetics, there will be an exclusive limited release of the AJ 2009 on January 31st, with a wide release to follow for All-Star weekend on February 14th.